Baroness Thatcher
The daughter of a grocer who served Great Britain 11 years as the
Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990 winning three consecutive general
elections is dead.
The Oxford graduate and barrister who was dubbed the Iron Lady had
divided opinion. She won the admiring nick name 'The Iron Lady' from the
Soviet defence ministry newspaper Red Star after her January 1976 speech
at Kensington Town Hall. For some she saved Britain. For some she
destroyed it. It was said that she was responsible for the fall of the
Trade Unions in the UK and that she exhibited ruthless behaviour towards
the miners and blue-collar workers.
On the contrary: "Thatcher brought Britain back up from it's knees
when it was facing a major financial crisis pre-1979 due to the
aftermath of World War II and the creation of the Welfare State in
1948", her admires claim.
For the young conservative generation, she is an inspiration and a
global icon.
Whatever it is, the division she is said to have created is still
visible even after the announcement of her death. Street parties began
in London and major cities creating a security alert. Parties in a few
cities ended with arson and looting. That showed the intentions of the
people who wanted to party celebrating her death. There were plenty of
slogans of hate posted on social websites and also written on walls. One
such slogan was "you snatched my milk" which referred to her withdrawing
of the glass of milk supplied to the government schools pupils.
Ironically a majority of the young who protested and partied were not
even born when Thatcher was in power. Anarchists, groups who didn't want
to abide by rules and the law of the country and squatters lead the
protests.
It was sad to see the attitude shown to a dead leader who made
Britain great again. The protest song of the 1939 musical, The Wizard of
Oz, "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," was voted to number one in some music
charts. Although there were requests from listeners to ban the 51 second
song playing on the BBC radio, the government did not make any request
or try to ban it.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said, Mr. Cameron regarded the
matter with "personal distaste" but the decision whether to ban the song
or not was "a matter for the BBC".
The Deputy Premier said, "it would be inappropriate for politicians
to tell the BBC what the corporation should or should not play."
Also, a police officer attached to Scotland Yard made offensive
remarks on her death. He said her passing was "87 years too late."
He also suggested the world would be a "better place" if Cameron too
was dead. A school teacher who ran a "death party" said it was a
wonderful event. An Irish TV broadcaster carried a banner "The wait is
over".
The Trade Union Congress in the UK was selling Thatcher death party
packs for sometime. Lady Thatcher said that the fact they felt so
strongly about her more than 20 years after she left the Prime
Minister's office was a tribute to the fact she had done something in
politics, rather than simply be someone in politics. Whilst some were
paying tribute to her, some were seeing burning her picture posters.
In George Square, Glasgow 300 people toasted her death with champagne
and party poppers. The anarchists planed a mass party in Trafalgar
Square to celebrate her death but that didn't work. They tried to gather
supporters through social networks. Most people find these actions
distasteful, offensive and insensitive.
Lady Thatcher quoted St Francis of Assisi when she arrived at the
Prime Ministers office as Britain's first female Prime Minister saying:
"Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may
we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where
there is despair, may we bring hope." The exceptional life of Lady
Thatcher ended with a rare ceremonial funeral at St. Paul's cathedral
with full military honours. It was the second occasion the Queen
attended a funeral of a British Prime Minister. Roads to the city of
London were kept closed and thousands of people gathered to pay their
respect.
Even the Big Ben went silent.
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